Dr. Hinshaw Addresses COVID-19 Interactive Online Data App

Dr. Hinshaw Addresses COVID-19 Interactive Online Data App

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

There has been much confusion over the online map of COVID-19 cases, and how they are reported.

Adding to the confusion was a news article in the Aug. 5 edition of the Vegreville News Advertiser.

The article titled, ‘Number of COVID-19 Cases Skyrockets in Viking’ which stated there were 73 confirmed cases in Viking. Viking Mayor Jason Ritchie clarified that AHS has to notify the town if there are over 10 reported cases within the town limits, and that had not occurred.

Not only were the numbers skewed, it created confusion because the case numbers reported by Alberta Health are only broken into two geographical locations, (Viking and Tofield), and does not provide a breakdown of the number of cases in other communities that are located within Beaver County. This was unknown to VNA and members of the public.

Ritchie discussed the town’s concerns with government officials Aug. 6, and on Aug. 11 he said he was happy their concerns regarding the interactive data map have been addressed.

During Dr. Hinshaw’s Aug. 10 COVID-19 live update, she stated, “I believe that for every person who asks a question, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people, who also want to know the answer.

One question has to do with the online map of COVID case numbers in our interactive data app online. The areas on the map can be viewed by municipality or by local geographic areas. Local geographic areas, or LGAs, are organized according to an internal mapping system used by AHS.

This naming convention has been in place for some time. However, LGA names were not created with a realtime map and a pandemic in mind. This has led to some confusion about the area names.

For example, in the LGAs named Viking and Wainwright, people are asking if all the numbers in these areas are in these towns. That is not the case. I want to be clear that when you are looking at the LGA map, the numbers represented include surrounding area numbers, not just the individual town.

Our officials are reviewing the map and renaming Viking, Wainwright, and any other affected areas to make it clear these are regional data, and the cases are not all in one community.”

On Aug. 11 only one active case was reported in the LGA of Viking.